Scissors sharpener



July 10, 1956 E. c. SASSE SCISSORS SHARPENER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 18, 1952 INVENTOR. Elmer C. 80532 2 3w w JAM/w ATTORNEYS July 10, 1956 E. c. sAssE SCISSORS SHARPENER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 18, 1952 uvwzzvrox. [/mer C. Jesse ATTORNEYJ United States Patent SCISSORS SHARPENER Elmer C. Sasse, Cleveland, Ohio Application January 18, 1952, Serial No. 267,061

- Claims. (Cl. 51-92) This invention relates to improvements in tool sharpeners and more particularly to scissors Sharpeners.

One of the objects is to provide in a scissors sharpener of the type described a scissors blade holding carriage movable generally lognitudinally and transversely with respect to the axis of a rotating grinding wheel.

Another object of the present invention is to provide in a scissors sharpener of the type described means for causing a substantially constant angle to be ground along the full length of the scissors blade regardless of the contour of said blade.

Other features of this invention reside in the arrangement and design of the parts for carrying out their appropriate functions.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the accompanying drawings and description and the essential features will be set forth in the appended claims.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a front view of the scissors sharpener;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the scissors sharpener shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a view taken along the line 4-4 of Fig. 2 disclosing the scissors blade properly located and clamped in the scissors blade holder;

Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 5-5 of Fig. 3 through the mounting between the scissors blade holder and the remainder of the carriage;

Fig. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view taken through the carriage and the rod support along the line 6-6 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 7 is a top View of the carriage guide and support plate taken along the line 7-7 of Fig. 2 but with the carriage omitted;

Fig. 8 is a bottom view of the guide and support plate shown in Fig. 7 but with the rod and one of the end connections thereof shown in different positions by dot-dash lines; 1

Fig. 9 is a vertical sectional view of the structure shown in Fig. 7, with its supporting structure shown in dot-dash lines, taken along line 9-9; a

Fig. 10 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 10-10 of Fig. 7; while Fig. 11 is a sectional view taken along the line 11-11 of Fig. 7 disclosing the connection between the end of the elongated'shaft and the supporting plate therefor.

Those familiar with this art will recognize that my invention may be used to sharpen many different types of cutting tools, but I have chosen to illustrate the same as a scissors sharpener. While my scissors sharpener invention might be adapted to various types of grinding machines, I have chosen to show the same mounted on a conventional grinding head. A typical grinding head would include a frame 20, as seen in Fig. l, a motor 21 mounted on said frame, and a shaft 22 rotated by said motor and having a grinding Wheel 23 on. one end (the right end in Fig. 1) and a butter wheel or another grinding wheel at the opposite end, as shown at 24.

A guide and support plate or member 26 is secured to the frame 20 by screws 27 threaded into the top of the mounting bosses 20a on the frame 20. This member 26 forms a frame to support and guide the scissors holding carriage while sharpening the scissors blade. The movable carriage, generally shown at 28, is adapted to carry a scissors blade into grinding contact with the grinding wheel 23.

This carriage has a carriage base 29 supporting a scissors blade holder 30, as seen in Figs. 2 and 5. This blade holder 30 has a blade holder base 31 and clamping jaws 32 spaced therefrom. Rivets or balls 32a are formed in the lower rear surfaces of the clamping jaws and are adapted to fit into registering detents 31a in the blade holder base 31. When these balls and detents are in assembled position, as seen in Figs. 2 and 5, the distance between the scissors blade clamping portions of the base 31 and the clamping jaw 32 correspond in height to the heel of the scisors blade. The balls 32a have a substantially spherical shape so that blade clamping screws 33 will pull the blade holder base 31 and the clamping jaws 32 together to securely lock the scissors blade therebetween. The screws 33 extend through holes in the clamping jaws 32 and are threaded into holes in the blade holder base 31. It should be noted in Fig. 4 that base 31 and one of the jaws 32 are cut back on the right hand side. Then, the scissors blade being ground can be held with the minimum overhang, and there is no danger of having grinding wheel 23 forming a gouge in the cutting edge of the other scissors blade shown in Fig. 4 as inclined from the upper right to the lower left. The scissors blade holder 30 is secured in the carriage base 29 by an arm 31b, integrally formed on the blade holder base 31, extending into a slot 34 formed in the carriage base 29. A blade holder clamping screw 35 is inserted in a hole in the wall to the left of slot 34 in Fig. 5 and is threaded into a hole in the wall to the right of slot 34. Tightening the screw 35 will squeeze the walls of the slot 34 together and firmly secure the arm 31b therein.

The carriage 28 is mounted on the guide and support member 26 for movement longitudinally along the grinding wheel axis. The carriage 28 is longitudinally movable along the straight cylindrical rod 37, shown in Figs. 6 to 9 inclusive of the drawings. The carriage base 29 has an integral cylindrical sleeve 29a slidably and telescopically mounted on this rod 37. The rod 37 restrains the generally longitudinal movement of the carriage to a straight line movement.

The carriage 28 is also constructed for movement toward and away from the grinding wheel 23. The ends of the rod 37 are secured to the guide and support member 26 by floating connections 33, 38 at opposite ends. These connections lie in a plane substantially parallel to the axis of the grinding wheel 23. Since each of these floating'connections has the same construction, only one will be described. The floating connection 38 includes a recess 39 formed in the guide and support member 26. A raised bearing surface or bead 39a is formed in the horizontal wall of the recess 39, as seen in Figs. 8, 9 and 11. A cover member 40 is detachably mounted over the bottom of the recess to keep the cylindrical rod 37 therein. This cover member 40 is detachably secured to the guide and support member 26 by any conventional type of securing means such as the screws 41 threaded into the member 26 in the present disclosure. The recess 39 has a horizontal length equal to approximately three times the diameter of the rod 37. The distance between the bearing surface 39a and the cover member 40, as seen in Fig. 9, is slightly greater than the diameter of the cylindricalrod 37. These floating connections 38,

38, permit the machine operator to move the rod 37 to any one of numerous positions between the limits of movement shown by the dot-dash lines in Figs. 8. and 9. The rod 37 may be, moved toward and away from. the grinding wheel axis while always remaining parallel thereto, if desired. The range of movement for this orientation of the rod 37 is determined by the horizontal.

When the scissorsblade is ground to an angle of 8-1O degrees, the scissors is best suited for general utility cutting. This angle is ground in Fig. 2v by the grinding wheel 23 and is measured from a line extending vertically with respect to the blade engaging surface of the blade holder base 31. An adjustable arm 43 is telescopically engaged over the cylindrical portion 2% on thecarriage base 29. The position of this arm 43 with re spect to the carriage 28 determines the grinding angle. A means is provided on the arm for removably securing it to the sleeve 29a at any given angular position. In the present disclosure, this means takes the form of a set screw 44. screwed into the arm 43. The distal end of the arm 43 has a ball or rivet 43a with a spherical lower surface. This ball 43a engages, with a point contact, a plane upper surface 26a on the guide and support member 26. This plane guide surface 26a extends substantially parallel to the plane of the floating connections 38, 38. This plane guide surface 26a may also extend substantially horizontal lying in a radial plane coplanar with the grinding wheel axis, if desired. The ball 43aengaging the plane guide surface 26a not only assures constant grinding angle for any given setting of the arm.

43 on the sleeve 29a but also guides the movement of the carriage 28 longitudinally and transversely with respect to the grinding wheel axis as the carriage 28 is moved along the rod 37 and one or both ends of the rod 37 are moved toward or away from the grinding wheel.

An indicator mark 45 is provided on the arm 43 for alignment with suitable indicator marks on the carriage base ,29 for setting the carriage 28 at the proper grinding angle. The mark 46 on the base 29 is aligned with the indicating mark 45 when grinding the conventional scissors to an angle of 8-l0 degrees. A mark 47 on the carriage base 29 may aligned with the indicating mark 45 when grinding pinking scissors.

The advantages of the present construction are many. First, since rod 37 is provided with floating connections 38, 38 and the carriage 28 is slidable along the rod 37, scissors blades of different contours can be easily ground. If the cutting edge of the scissors blade has a straight edge, as seen in Fig. 4, the carriage 28 and the rod 37 may be moved toward the grinding wheel 23 until the grinding wheel has ground the scissors blade cutting edge to the proper depth. Then, with the axis of the rod 37, the axis of the shaft 22 and the cutting edge being ground all parallel with respect to each other, the machine operator may slide the carriage 28 alongthe straight rod 37 to grind and sharpen the full length of the scissors .blade. The rod 37 will retain this parallel alignment since the cutting edge of the scissors is engaging the cylindrical periphery of the grinding wheel 23 and the ball 43a is travelling in a straight line on the flat guide surface 26a. There are no forces tending to move the rod 37 out of alignment. When the scissors blade cutting edge has a curved contour instead of a straight contour, the machine operator, when moving the scissorsblade across the grindingwheel' 23, may move the rodjjtqward oxraway.from the grinding wheel, 23..

or rotate the rod 37 slightly as the carriage 28 slides along the rod 37. In other words, he may move the carriage 28 and the blade holder thereon in conformity with the blade contour. Second, regardless of the cutting edge contour on the scissors blade, the engagement between ball 43a on arm 43 and the flat guide surface 26a will assure the grinding of a substantially constant cutting angle along the full length of the scissors blade. This angle, for all practical purposes, will remain substantially constant or at least within the 2-degree range (between 8 and 10 degrees). This is especially true if the plane guide surface 26a in Fig. 2 is substantially coplanar with the axis of shaft 22' so that the cutting edge being ground will have its full length, regardless of a contour, spaced substantially the same distance above the plane. In practice, the grinding wheel 23 will vary about threeeights inch radius when in its new condition as contrasted with when it is ready to be discarded. This slight variation in radius will affect the cutting angle being ground but for all practical purposes will not change the angle outside of the 2,-degree range mentioned. Third, since the both ends of rod 37 have floating mounts, the periphcry of grinding wheel 23 will wear smoothly. If one end of the rod 371 were pivotally attached to the support member 26 while the other end had a floating connection 38 so that a scissors blade with a curved contour edge could be sharpened, the grinding wheel periphery would wear in the form of a frustrum of a cone and it would be difiicult to grind a straight cutting edge, as shown in Fig. 4. As the grinding wheel 23 wore down in size, the taper on its periphery would be more pronounced since the rod 37 in the floating connection 38 would have to be moved farther forward toward the grinding wheel 23 to engage the scissors blade with the grinding wheel. The pivotal connection at the other end of the rod 37 would be stationary and could not move forward to compensate for wear on the grinding wheel 23.

Various changes in details and arrangement of parts can be made by one skilled in the art Without departing from the spirit of this invention or the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

I-. In a scissors sharpener, a frame, a grinding wheel rotatably mounted on said frame and being rotatable about an axis, a rod generally extending in the same direction as said axis, means on said frame connecting,

each end of said rod to said frame by a floating connection having a rod guide surface lying in a plane substantially parallel to said axis so that each end of said rod is capable of movement to a different or the same extent as the other end in said plane toward and away from said grinding Wheel, the connections between each end and frame being located on opposite sides of the plane of rotation of said grinding wheel, a movable carriage slidably. engaging said rod, said carriage adapted to carry a scissors blade into grinding contact with said grinding wheel, whereby said carriage is movable towardand away from said grinding wheel and is movable longitudinally along said rod;

2. In a scissors sharpener, aframe, a grinding wheel rotatably mounted on said frame and being rotatable about an axis, a freely movable rod generally extendinginthe same direction assaid axis, means locatedout of the planeof rotation of said grinding wheel and located on said'frame connecting the ends of said rod to said frame by free floating connections for permitting rotationof. said rod about atransverse axis located anywhere along its length and for permitting rod movement while remaining parallelto said axis and for preventing endwise movement-of said rod, whereby each end of said rod is capable. of? movement a different extent toward andaway from said grinding Wheel, a movable carriage slidably engaging said rod, said carriage adapted to carry ascissors blade. into grinding contact with said grinding wheel,.whereby=. said carriage is movable toward andv away from said grinding wheel and is movable longitudinally along said rod.

3. In a scissors sharpener, a frame, a grinding wheel rotatably mounted on said frame and being rotatable about an axis, a rod generally extending in the same direction as said axis, said frame having an elongated slot means straddling by its width said rod at spaced longitudinal points with a guide surface extending parallel to said axis to provide a floating connection for said rod so that said rod is capable of movement in rotation about a transverse axis and in translation along the length of said slot means, means preventing endwise movement of said rod from said slot means, a movable carriage slidably engaging said rod, said carriage adapted to carry a scissors blade into grinding contact with said grinding wheel, whereby said carriage is movable toward and away from said grinding wheel and is movable longitudinally along said rod.

4. In a scissors sharpener, as set forth in claim 3, wherein said slot means in said frame comprises spaced apart slots capturing the ends of said rod with said carriage located therebetween, and said means preventing endwise rod movement comprising generally parallel walls bridging said slots and located beyond the ends of said rod.

5. In a scissors sharpener, a frame, a grinding wheel rotatably mounted on said frame and being rotatable about an axis, a rod generally extending in the same direction as said axis, said frame having an elongated slot means straddling by its width said rod at spaced longitudinal points by wall means extending parallel to said axis to provide a guide surface and floating connection for said rod so that said rod is capable of movement in rotation about a transverse axis and in translation along said slot means, means preventing endwise movement of said rod from said slot means, a movable carriage slidably engaging said rod, said carriage adapted to carry a scissors blade into grinding contact with said grinding wheel, said rod being of cylindrical form, said frame having a plane guide surface thereon extending substantially parallel to said wall means guide surface, said carriage having a cylindrical sleeve telescopically engaging said rod, an adjustable arm telescoped over said cylindrical sleeve on said carriage for engaging said plane guide surface, and means on said arm removably securing it to said sleeve at any given rotative position thereon for varying the grinding angle assumed by said carriage whereby said carriage is movable toward and away from said grinding wheel and is movable longitudinally along said rod.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 167,920 Manvel Sept. 21, 1875 1,255,962 \Varner et al Feb. 12, 1918 1,385,649 Sherman July 26, 1921 1,390,726 Scheiwer et al Sept. 13, 1921 1,875,547 Anderson Sept. 6, 1932 1,915,247 Holloway et al June 20, 1933 2,008,943 Bodey July 23, 1935 2,191,600 Wahl Feb' 27, 1940 2,192,981 McMillen Mar. 12, 1940 2,318,883 Nicholas May 11, 1943 2,565,291 Amendola Aug. 21, 1951 2,565,309 Jacoby Aug. 21, 1951 

